10/22/2024
To the good people of Mallory’s Church Mallory's Church:
It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I post this, but with multiple people asking and knowing how the rumor mill works, I wanted you all to hear the truth directly from us. My wife, Debbie Hatfield and myself, along with Landon, Shelby, Carsyn, Eli, Joey, and Peyton, will no longer be attending services with you. Please take a moment to read this post and I will explain. We are very disappointed with three members of the church leadership along with three of the members. On September 1, 2024, Debbie and I had a meeting with Randy and Tammy, Billy-Christy Bowman Pentecost, and Timand Diane Pentecost to seek help with a heavy burden that is upon our family. All we asked was for some letters to be written to help us with a situation and all in the meeting with the exception of Christie verbalized that they would gladly help and would do anything else to help if they possibly could. Randy's exact words were "You do not have to walk this valley alone. That's what church family is for.". I was unable to be in church on 9/8 due to my work schedule so I sent a text to all six involved in the discussion and only got a response back from one person. I sent another text on Friday 9/13 reminding everyone that I would need the letters on 9/15 to be of any help. This time I got no response at all from anyone. On Sunday, 9/15, I asked these three of individuals if they had written the letters and the response I was given "We don't think we should get involved." I would have been fine with that response if they had not previously said they would help or at least had the intestinal fortitude to tell me when I sent the first text so I would have had time to get someone else to help. It has been preached so many times from that pulpit that church hurt is the worst kind of hurt and we can truly say that from our experience now that that is the truth! My Bible tells me in Galatians 6:2 "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ"! It has been said so many times that the church should be there to help the sick, hurting, needy, and burdened people but yet when we had a need, we get told "We would rather not get involved or choose a side.". That doesn't sound much like the Jesus that I know! Instead of helping us, we got shunned and pushed away. So, with all that being said, my family and I just don't feel that we can serve and worship under that kind of false representation of our LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ. This in no way is representative of how we feel about the majority of the individual people there, just these select individuals that chose to neglect fellow Christians in a time of need. We still love and will miss you all and will continue to pray for you all and the church and for forgiveness where it is needed. We would like to thank two individuals who went out of their way to help with this situation....Elaine Pentecost and Megan Buhler. I do humbly ask that you continue to pray for us as we walk through this valley.
Love in Christ,
Bobby Hatfield
Debbie Hatfield
